| 1838 print TOWER OF GESSLER, KÜSSNACHT, SWITZERLAND, #11 |
Print from steel engraving titled KUSSNACHT: Tour de Gossler, published in a volume of L'Univers Pittoresque, Paris, approx. page size 20.5 x 12.5 cm, approx. image size 9 x 14 cm.
Albrecht Gessler
Albrecht (also known as Hermann) Gessler (c. 14th century) was a probably legendary Habsburg bailiff (German: Landvogt) at Altdorf, whose brutal rule led to the William Tell rebellion and the eventual independence of the Swiss Confederacy.
The White Book of Sarnen about 1470 mentioned one gesler who was vogt at Uri and Schwyz. According to the Chronicon Helveticum by Aegidius Tschudi (1505–1572), in 1307 Gessler raised a pole in the market square of Altdorf, placed his hat atop it, and ordered all the townsfolk to bow before it. When Tell refused, he was given the option of either being executed himself or shooting an apple off his son's head. Tell succeeded in splitting the apple with his first arrow, but when asked why he had a second arrow ready, he replied that it was intended for Gessler in the event that he ended up harming his son. Gessler had Tell arrested and taken by boat across Lake Lucerne to Küssnacht. A fierce storm enabled Tell to escape and he later ambushed and killed Gessler with an arrow, launching the local rebellion against Austrian rule.
Indeed a Gessler family of ministeriales is documented from the 13th century onwards; however at Wiggwil in the Aargau region, the original homeland of the Habsburgs and the basis for their rise after the extinction of the Swabian House of Hohenstaufen. The Gesslers profited from the election of Count Rudolph of Habsburg as King of the Romans in 1273 and his acquisition of the Austrian and Styrian duchies after the victory over King Ottokar II of Bohemia at the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld. In the late 14th century one Hermann Gessler was Landvogt of the Habsburg dukes at Grüningen Castle in Zürich. His stern measures against the peasant population made the name Gessler an epitome of tyranny.
Friedrich Schiller perpetuated the figure in his 1804 drama Wilhelm Tell. In the Tale Spinners For Children recording of the story, Gessler is working under orders from the Emperor of Austria, who wishes to deliberately provoke the people of Switzerland into a rebellion which will serve as an excuse for Austria to invade Switzerland.
No sources refer to Gessler which predate the earliest references to the Tell legend of the late 15th century, and he is presumed not to have existed. Gessler's role in Tell's story is analogous to that of King Nidung in the story of Egil in the Thidreks saga.